cmt

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34476606

rkkwan

Now I want to know how many people have fallen off the Leaning Tower of Pisa?

fairoakschris

Suitcases fall into the canals also. While in Rome two years ago, we met a guy whose luggage got lost while enroute to Rome.

9 days later it appeared at the hotel in Rome, wet and smelly. It had somehow fallen into a canal in Venice. How it got to Venice no one knows.

A trip to a laundry solved the problem.

KathrynT

rkkwan,

I would bet people have fallen off the Leaning Tower. In 1972 when I first climbed the tower, there were very few rails and none at all on the lower levels. I remember having a serious case of vertigo at the top and feeling the one little rail would be of little use if I fell as I would easily slip under it. I was pleasantly surprised when I returned last year to find the tower with much better safety railings.

bronxgirl

I guess we could add "how many people have fallen out of the London Eye?" to our list of potential travel disasters.
Or "how many people have toppled off the Eiffel Tower?"

cybertraveler

I think this is a reasonable concern. I marveled when I was in Venice at the total nonchalance of parents with their toddlers. I would have had my boys' hands in mine at all times, but these parents allowed their children to go off on their own--perilously close to the edge of the cement. There are no retaining barriers; the Italians believe that common sense should dictate caution and laugh at the profusion of American caution signs ("hot drink", "watch your step" etc). Still, a little caution is not a bad thing...

Wudumaer

You absolutely can fall into a canal in Venice. I fell into the Grand Canal by the steps at the Rialto bridge by stepping down one step too close to the water in order to get a better photo. The tide was out, and that step LOOKED pretty dry, but had a slick of algae on it that couldn't be seen easily in the dark. Fortunately I didn't get the whole ducking - only to mid-thigh - but I did see a young lady a few days later assisted by a boatman come dripping from head to toe from a smaller canal. I think it's pretty common to fish tourists out of canals. This shouldn't deter anyone from going though! Venice is absolutely gorgeous. Just stay away from edges

HappyTrvlr

They also do in Donna Leon's wonderful mysteries set in Venice!

annhig

The poet Percy Shelley drowned boating off the coast of Venice.>

Shelley drowned sailing between Livorno and Lerici which are on the Ligurian Sea [the west coast of Italy] whereas Venice is on the Adriatic which is on the east.

BTW i have some photos of Venice we took 30 odd years ago on our first trip to venice showing the grand canal in July - it is virtually empty compared to the scenes we see today.

caroline_edinburgh

Most streets don't just end in a canal (and most canals have walls between them & the pavement), but 'ours' does. We have seen a tourist walk in to the canal at the end of our street - 3 young women exploring, too intent on talking to each other to look where they were going, and splash! That was when we found out how deep it is normally - she was wet up to the knees - although neither of us thought to check whether it was high or low tide then (I'd assume low).

The small canals are shallower, though - I believe the Grand Canal is normally 3m at its deepest point, and obviously the parts where cruise ships plough through have been dredged much deeper.

On a more serious note, after a Padua lawyer was found drowned at Sant'Elena a couple of months ago, a report in one of the local papers mentioned that nobody thinks people drown in the lagoon, but it averages 5 a year. Some may be drunk, I suppose, but a surprising number of locals can't swim - as was the case with this guy. And of course, canals have sheer sides & are difficult to climb out of.

Just watch where you are going (also advisable due to dog mess) and you'll be fine.

alanRow

<i>I guess we could add "how many people have fallen out of the London Eye?" to our list of potential travel disasters.</i>

They'd have to break the glass or through the door first

<i>obviously the parts where cruise ships plough through have been dredged much deeper.</i>

They need to stop dredging, cruise ships in Venice are an abomination

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...k-cruise-ships
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theclot...dy/5886115170/

nytraveler

I'm sure falling in is fairly common - and I have never noticed walks along the sides of canals.

The risks are:

If you're drunk

If you don;t pay attention (yes, the steps and edges of the canals are often covered with algae and can very slippery)

If you can't see the ground right next to the canal clearly - assume that it's slippery and don't hang around right on the edge.

And while it is true that many of the canals are shallow - if it's slippery enough it's possible to drown - and definitely swallow a lot of fairly toxic water.

But, the real question is - do you often off sidewalks and into the street? If not, I believe you are overthinking this.

cigalechanta

though this is an old thread, a few years AGO, a foderite fell into the wATER.

caroline_edinburgh

And as the local (i.e. Venice) paper reported after the latest instance a couple of months ago, there are an average of 5 drownings a year in the lagoon. But generally not tourists.

Alan, you don't need to tell me about the horror of cruise ships in the lagoon! Talks drag on about possibl;e solutions, but in the meantime the comune gets E30,000,000 from the cruise lines. The current mayor has now however come out in favour of them going to Marghera.

caroline_edinburgh

That should have been E30m per annum.